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India Has Witnessed Sharp Raise In FDI: Modi Tells WEF Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India is set to become become a $5 trillion economy by 2025, driven by strong fundamentals and vast size of the domestic market.

Addressing the plenary session of the World Economic Forum, Modi said, "Our present development agenda is based on five pillars. First and foremost, we do understand that our systems need to change. Hence, we are persisting with far reaching structural reforms. Thus, our first pillar is our mantra of reform, perform and transform."

"India is an investment in future," he said, adding,"Indians accepted in one voice and moved towards a less cash society and a unified tax system in the form of GST." The Prime Minster reiterated that reforms have touched almost all sectors in the country.

He said that over the last three years, the Indian government has resolved a number of regulatory and policy issues facing businesses, investors and companies."

"In this direction, we have also undertaken bold FDI (foreign direct investment) reforms. More than 90 per cent of the FDI approvals have been put on the automatic approval route. As a result of these changes, there has been a sharp rise in FDI in the past three years -- from $36 billion in 2013-14 to $60 billion in 2016-17."

Modi said the country is using technology to transform governance and deliver public entitlements and services. "I have been saying that e-governance is easy and effective governance."

"Our government agencies are finding innovative ways to create a business friendly environment. We have now developed the digestive capacity for various technologies. Our young people have already distinguished themselves in the realm of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship."

India To Be In Top Three Largest Economy:

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday said India will be one of the three largest economies in the world over the next 25 years as it had already demonstrated its capacity to grow even during adversity.

Addressing the valedictory session of Asean-India Business and Investment Meet and Expo in New Delhi, Jaitley said the growth story of Asean countries was quite similar to the Indian story as growth eluded both these regions when the Western world was growing at a fast pace.

He stated India stood as an exception in a world where most countries had started to increasingly look inwards. "When the Western world was growing faster, when the industrial revolution was paying dividends to that part of the world, these were the countries which were still struggling. Our economic growth and development was somewhat a latter prospect," he said.

"But in the last few years, this is the region which indeed has grown very fast. The Asean nations' growth rate is 4.5-5 per cent in a situation where the world has seen a global slowdown. And the prospect of this region growing over the next two to two-and-a-half decades is extremely significant." Jaitley said the Indian story was also somewhat similar as from a "very modest" growth rate in the last 25 years, the country had picked up and had now reached a point where it had become one of the fastest growing economies.